Schools & Universities
Throughout the United States, driving children to school is as routine
as the commute to work. While school bus systems exist for many school
districts (particularly rural), they do not always fit student schedules
(due to after school activities, etc.) or they are not even offered
in some urban districts. Neighbors may form carpools for their children,
however, without outside support or guidance, the reach of these carpools
may be limited to groups of friends or neighbors that already know each
other and that have children in the same school. “School Pool”
programs are administered in many communities to share information with
parents and assist in the connection of interested parties for sharing
a ride. Not only do school pools reduce overall vehicle miles traveled,
they also decrease congestion around the schools, which enhances safety
and fosters an improved environment for children walking or bicycling
to school. Often referred to “safe routes to school,” these
programs are underway across the country, in cities of all sizes. The
California Safe Routes to School Clearinghouse offers a range of resources
and contacts for these efforts: www.4saferoutes.org.

In university or college settings, the physical space for parking and
transportation infrastructure is often limited. By making transportation
opportunities abundant and flexible in nature, students, faculty, and
staff are encouraged to try and eventually rely on alternatives to single
occupancy vehicles. Other programs may integrate on-campus housing as
part of an integrated transportation and land use strategy designed
to reduce travel distances or eliminate the need for some trips altogether.
Disincentives, such as an aggressive parking fee structure, often play
an integral role in encouraging more efficient travel choices.

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA. The county-wide SchoolPool
program has providing rideshare assistance and bus passes on local
transit for five years.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON. The University created
the “Universal Pass” which provides transportation options
for a quarterly fee to faculty/staff.

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Special Events
Many communities recognize sizeable special events produce significant
impacts to the transportation system. In order to curtail traffic disruptions
and congestion related to events – whether they are summer festivals,
sporting events or conventions – agency collaborations on traffic
management plans are using available assets, including local transit
and ITS infrastructure, to better manage demand. FHWA has developed
a technical reference entitled Managing Travel for Planned Special Events.
The reference is intended to serve as a stand-alone tool for transportation
practitioners and includes successful case studies for a range of special
event types.

SUMMERFEST, WI. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation
demonstrated the effectiveness of “pre-planning” for large
events, such as the Summerfest concert festival, attended by over
one million people annually.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS, WA. As a condition of project approval,
the transportation management plan for Seahawks Stadium established
goals to reduce personal vehicle trips. Based on 2002 results, mode
split goals set forth in the plan have been surpassed.
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King County, in Seattle, developed an internet-based resource for offering
ridematching and other services for regional events. The website provides
an updated list of upcoming special events, and facilitates ridesharing
to the event locations. More information is available: www.rideshareonline.com/eventmatching/logonframepubevent.asp

ZION NATIONAL PARK, UT. In order to preserve the
unique resources and recreational opportunities of Zion Canyon, the
Park instituted a mandatory shuttle system during peak visitation.
75% of Zion’s annual visitors utilize the shuttle system.

ASPEN, CO. In this city, the revenue generated from
the paid parking program is directly reinvested into demand-side programs
and allocated for future transit investments.

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Recreation & Tourism
Unique circumstances can lead to successful implementation of demand-side
strategies at recreation and tourism destinations. Typical of the resort
areas researched for this guide, maintaining environmental, natural,
and aesthetic features of the community are of necessary importance
for the economic vitality of the area. As part of this guide, information
has been collected on strategies to manage traffic that have been implemented
in recreational and destination communities. Demand-side strategies
typically focus on targeted travelers (i.e. employees, visitors, etc.)
to reduce trips during congested travel times. Often demand-side programs
are geared towards home-based work trips. However in an area where tourism
and seasonal services occur, demand-side strategies might be particularly
effective if targeted towards seasonal employees often priced out of
living close to their employment center or visitors who are accustomed
to paying for services and already expect a unique experience from visiting
the area. The case studies highlighted in this guide describe a collection
of programs undertaken by various sponsors (i.e. local jurisdictions,
transit authority, non-profit organizations) as part of a collective
effort for their community.

Transportation Corridor Planning &
Construction Mitigation
Planning and preliminary engineering of major corridor investment projects
presents significant opportunities for the coordinated integration of
demand-side programs. In more and more projects around the country,
these programs are being developed as an integrated component of each
“build” alternative assessed in the corridor planning process.
There are three prime opportunities for integration of demand-side programs
into the corridor planning and construction process:

1. Project Phasing. In corridors where major capital investments
are selected as part of the “preferred alternative,” the
final implementation of these investments is often 5-10 years down
the road. Demand-side programs often take much less time and money
to implement, and can provide valuable transportation services in
the early years of implementation. Systems management strategies can
achieve near-term, incremental improvements to traffic flow. Demand-side
measures can enhance available travel choices and establish key partnerships
with corridor businesses.

2. Construction Mitigation. The (re)construction
of major corridor infrastructure projects often takes many years to
complete. During this time period, transportation capacity in the
corridor is often degraded and access to businesses limited. Demand-side
programs provide critical mitigation strategies to reduce the negative
impacts of construction, including:

• Working with corridor employers and other businesses to
provide traveler information and to develop access alternatives,
such as transit, vanpooling, flexible work hours or telework.

• Working with transportation agencies to adjust existing
transportation facilities and services, such as adding temporary
HOV lanes or adding additional transit services.

3. Complementing Build Alternatives. Demand-side
programs often play an important role as a complement to a build alternative,
in two key ways:

A. Maximizing the utilization of build alternatives.Strategies implemented
vary, based on the nature of the build alternative. For example:

• For corridors adding HOV lanes, appropriate strategies
might include partnerships with employers for promotion of transit
and ridesharing, development of incentives, education and marketing
of associated travel time and travel cost savings for HOV lane use,
information on lane access times and locations, etc.

• For corridors adding transit systems, appropriate strategies
might include working with employers to improve connections to the
transit stops/stations, development of transit pass programs, marketing
and education of transit routes, stops and schedules, real-time
transit schedule information, etc.

B. Providing enhanced travel choices for trip patterns not well served
by the major investment. For example, construction of new general
purpose lanes and a rail transit line along a north-south corridor
may not provide significant benefits for east-west travel patterns
in the area. Transportation management strategies can augment the
major north-south investment with systems management strategies to
improve traffic flow and demand-side programs to provide enhanced
travel choices for east-west trips. These same programs also enhance
access to major north-south investments.

T-REX – DENVER, CO. For the Transportation
Expansion Project (T-REX) in metropolitan Denver, Colorado, project
sponsors have dedicated $3 million to the TransOptions program, a
TDM-based construction mitigation program.
(www.trexproject.com)
US 101 – SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA. As part of the reconstruction
of US 101 in the Cuesta Grade in central California, the San Luis
Obispo Council of Governments developed an integrated set of demand-side
strategies to enhance mobility during the reconstruction period. The
program included increased commuter bus service, special vanpool promotion
and subsidies, and carpool incentives. An evaluation of the demand-side
programs showed a reduction of about 300 cars per day from the highway,
eliminating about 8,000 miles of daily vehicle travel. Average auto
occupancy on the highway rose from 1.206 to 1.266. The evaluation
showed that the carpool incentives were the most cost effective means
among the three programs for removing cars from the highway.
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Employer-Based Commute Programs
As a travel market, work-related trips tend to reflect the highest percentage
of peak-period trips made within a region. Typically, commute trips
occur regularly and are sometimes easier to arrange for a consistent
alternative to driving alone than other trip types. For this reason,
many demand-side strategies are implemented through employer-based and
work site specific programs that encourage employees to switch from
driving alone to carpooling, vanpooling, or using some other alternate
means of travel. Often programs deployed at a work site level encourage
employees to adjust work schedules or even reevaluate the need to travel
(i.e. telecommute). Regional demand-side programs also focus on commute
trip reduction strategies that complement local transportation programs
and facilities such as light rail, regional bus service, and rideshare
programs. As an incentive, employers are typically eligible for tax
benefits by providing certain qualifying transportation benefits.

Airports
In recent years, increased attention has been given to transportation
systems supporting airports both locally as well as internationally.
Airports are vital to local economies and therefore should be given
due diligence for continued and orderly expansion. Transportation management
efforts, whether or not expansion is on the horizon, include internal
circulation plans, overall master planning efforts, and regional transportation
infrastructure investments. Planning efforts should take a critical
look at airfield capacity, terminal and parking space and access issues.
Besides encouraging travelers to use alternative means to travel to,
from and within airport property, successful planning efforts have incorporated
transportation options for airport employees. Since the terrorist events
on September 11, 2001, transportation infrastructure as it relates to
maintaining airport security has also been taken to a level of elevated
importance and scrutiny.

LONDON HEATHROW. On a large scale, BAA’s London
Heathrow has invested in a sustainable future for public transport
involving an integrated system of rail, transit, and managing and
monitoring traffic demand.

JFK, NY. In addition to improving access to the John
F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) in New York City, the $1.9 billion JFK AirTrain
investment provides access for passengers traveling between terminals
and other ground facilities.
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Incidents & Emergencies
Strategies to improve traveler awareness of an unplanned event and to
expedite the response to incidents on the roadway network are essential
for maintaining freeway operations. Traffic incidents are a significant
cause of freeway congestion. When an incident occurs, roadway capacity
is typically reduced by blocking a lane or introducing a distraction
in the traveling environment that causes motorists to reduce travel
speed. Considerable documentation is already available on incident and
emergency management programs throughout the country. FHWA has numerous
publications, including the Benefits Brochures series, highlighting
technology for incident and emergency response. AASHTO has published
the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CONNDOT) Incident Management
System (IMS) as one of their highlighted Success Stories. CONNDOTs IMS,
like many throughout the country, monitors traffic operations at a traffic
operations center, dispatches and coordinates interagency emergency
response, adjusts traffic signal systems to manage flow, and supports
highway service patrols. Transportation management plans are also critical
to emergency preparedness planning efforts for natural disasters and
other major, unexpected occurrences.

Freight Transportation
Considering that commercial vehicle traffic typically comprises a steady
percentage of daily traffic on state highways and the interstate system,
further research on non-commute demand-side strategies would benefit
from a more detailed discussion of freight management and commercial
transportation. As a function of their size, freight trucks have been
attributed with adding to congestion, road surface degradation and traffic
accident severity. Commercial vehicle travel reductions can provide
benefit to both the highway system and local roads utilized for delivery.
There are a number of programs around the country that have been implemented
to streamline commercial vehicle operations. FHWA has also documented
the benefits of commercial vehicle electronic screening in their Benefits
Brochures series. Besides streamlining operations, perhaps the most
effective way to manage commercial vehicle travel is to encourage off-peak
travel or alternative routes. Improving scheduling and truck routing
processes can contribute to a reduction in freight vehicle mileage.

DEMAND-SIDE FREIGHT STRATEGIES – LONG BEACH, CA.
The Los Angeles region has 16 million residents, 9 million jobs, and
one of the busiest freight ports in the world. In the Los Angeles
area, the Long Beach port moves close to 13,000 20-foot long containers
each day. To better manage this high level of goods movement, Intelligent
Transportation Systems can be used as a tool to implement Transportation
Demand Management concepts traditionally seen in personal commuting.
TDM concepts in goods movement include better scheduling, better routing
and reduction of bottlenecks at check points.

On December 10th, 2003, the Marine Terminal Operators (MTO) introduced
a new truck identification technology that has potential to reduce
air pollution and relieve truck congestion around the port. The two
tracking devices currently being considered are radio frequency identification
tags (RFID) and Real-Time Locating System tags (RTLS). Both systems
are similar to electronic toll collection devices currently used in
private automobiles across the country. At the MTO’s expense,
these devices will be installed in over 30,000 trucks that use the
Long Beach terminal.

The new technologies will help reduce congestion in several ways.
First, it allows the MTO to identify and register trucks without the
need for them to stop at port entrances. Electronic identification
also will reduce the entrance gate personnel requirements for the
MTO, making off-hour deliveries less expensive and more realistic.
Increasing off-hour deliveries has the potential to shift delivery
schedules to times of the day that experience less commuter congestion.
Thirdly, the new technologies could locate lost truck drivers and
facilitate route finding back to the terminal. Finally, electronic
identification provides an excellent tool to gather data on truck
contributions to local highway congestion.

The Vice Mayor and City Councilman of Long Beach, Frank Colonna is
excited about the potential to reduce the impacts of truck congestion
on neighboring communities. Mr. Colonna has said, “I like the
initiative. It will provide a pathway to better manage truck traffic,
minimize congestion, [and] reduce air pollution...” The MTO
intends to have the system up and running by March 2004. For more
information contact: Port of Long Beach, (562) 437-0041, info@pobl.com.
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